1

Lexi Brown

English 102

Research Paper

7 May 2016

The Evolution of Technology: How it is affecting our children

The impact that technology can have on one can be socially, emotionally, and physically

challenging to be in control of. In todays society, childhood and adolescence in the United States

is marked by the centrality of the media. Growing up in the contemporary world means

immersion in the sights and sounds supplied by the television, computer, and basically anything

else technology. (Cornstock 1). The impact of technology on the growing adolescent brain is just

beginning to be explored, but it has been shown that it will more than likely to have lasting

effects. The problem that teens, adolescences, and adults are facing with technology is they really

dont understand the long term impacts that it may be having on them. Todays people are

entertained, informed, educated, and persuaded by social media. We accompany these ideas with

a positive response, which in fact may not be the case. Children, teens, and adults are growing up

very attached to technology and oftentimes are replacing human communication with any sort of

technology communication. Individually, people tend to understand these two as the same ideas,

because today it is believable that people are still communicating with others. Children and teens

no longer put down cellphones or electronics and have a pleasant talk with their friends and

family, but rather spend the time playing video games, watching television, or checking their

chosen social media apps. It is very clear that it is becoming easier and easier for children to lose

the one on one connection that older generations once had with others. With this rather common
 2

occurring problem that is being faced, what are the long lasting effects that technology is putting

on children?

Addictions are known to be a very common, worldwide problem that oftentimes can only

be resolved and altered by oneself. One of the most concerning addictions that is growing in

todays popularity is the addiction to technology use. Although technology can be both

beneficial and harmful in many different ways, research is beginning to help us better understand

the potential harmful effects that can be obtained from the overuse of technology. It has

been shown that technology can affect people physically, emotionally, and socially. The over

usage of technology can have life long lasting effects. If people don't find a way to control the

way technology is being used in their lives the effects will just continue to cultivate in negative

ways. Technology, like most addictions, is healthy when used in moderation. Without restricting

use and parental guidelines, technology will continue to have harmful effects on children,

adolescents, and adults.

Technology has advanced and changed in numerous ways over the years. Unfounately,

this has had dire consequences for many of our youth today. Emotionally children are affected in

a positive manner and has now switched roles to a negative manner. An example of how

technology has effected us in a positive way emotionally would be through happy tears. Growing

up as a child, many would say their favorite part of the week was getting to talk to long distance

relatives on the phone, causing happy tears to appear on that small childs face. The evolution of

technology has made these happy tears turn to sad tears. According to dosomething.org, 25% of

all children get cyberbullied at least twice in their lifetime and over 80% of teens use a cell

phone regularly, making it the most common medium for cyber bullying.
 3

While our technology usage begins to increase earlier in a childs life; bullying has also

started to simultaneously take place. Cyberbullying is having an extreme impact on our children

emotionally. Depression, sleep deprivation, social anxiety, aggression, internet addiction, social

isolation, and susceptibility to the influence of online advertising have all been noted as potential

consequences of adolescent social media usage. (Farber 1226) There are all-too-often cyberbully

examples that have proven fatal to children. In one specific example a petite, blonde-haired,

blue-eyed Ohio high school senior, Jessica Logan, committed suicide after a nude photo of

herself was sent to her boyfriend and distributed around the entire school. Another real life

example was about Tyler Clementi. He was a shy 18-year-old freshman from Rutgers University

and jumped off of George Washington Bridge to his death. His death was a result of a sexual

encounter video of himself posted on the internet. Another student, Sarah Lynn Butler was in

seventh grade when she committed suicide. She received online message from her peers

indicating she was a slut. She hung herself, and left a note saying she couldnt handle what

others were saying about her. Cyberbullying is not something to take lightly. Many classmates,

children, friends, and cousins are facing major consequences all because technology is taking

over their life.

There are both positive and negative effects that can come from being socially involved

with technology. Using technology socially can provide us with new friendships, education

improvements, and also have effective and quick communication. Of course, there can also be

extreme negative impacts to these. Meeting random new friends can be a very dangerous and

risky situation to be put it in. Many years ago, young students around the world were being

introduced to the idea of computers. Presenting young students with technology was both

beneficial for the teacher and student. Allowing a student to explore on their own gave them the
 4

sense of freedom but also allowed the teacher to make more one on one time with the students.

Negative impacts also came from this idea, this is when the addiction of technology and children

began. Bringing technology into a child life so young has negatively impacted their lives forever.

They are also negative impacts that can come from being able to communicate quickly. The

problem with efficiency in communication in our modern society is that efficiency is

synonymous with speed; saying things fast, summarizing where details would perhaps be better,

delivering a 20 minute speech in five minutes, using a PowerPoint presentation to present an

extended essay to a class, thus, ignoring some relevant details, etc. Efficiency, while it means

with minimum waste or effort, has come to mean be brief, summarize, and say it very

quickly. Such an approach often results in omission of relevant details, and at times curtails

understanding through a lack of relevant statements or expressions.( McFarlane) As you are able

to see from an exert from a journal, technology is providing us with many negative impacts

socially that todays people dont give a second thought to.

In todays society, it is commonly known that most humans are disappearing to their

screens. The digital crowd has a way of incorporating technology into everything. Technology

has taken over our life to a point where a family cant get through a family dinner without

someone checking their electronics. This was proven on physcologytoday.com, it is shown that

in one study, when the working parent arrived home after work everyday, his or her children

were so immersed in technology that the parent was only greeted by the child 30 percent of the

time and was completely ignored 50 percent of the time the parent arrived home. As texting has

developed into the centerpiece of our communication, the position of young children and sexual

exploration has become a major concern. A 2009 study by The National Campaign to Prevent

Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy suggests even higher rates when including other forms of social
 5

media: 19 percent of teens aged 1319 years had sent a sexually suggestive picture or video of

themselves via email or cell phone or by another mode, and 31% had received either nude or

seminude images of someone else. (Farber 1226) These numbers become more and more

concerning when you factor in the number of people that join the technology world every day.

Many years ago, technology was used in a way to better our physical life. According to

dictionary.reference.com, technology is the use of scientific knowledge to solve practical

problems, especially in industry and commerce. With this being stated, we see that technology is

then able to be understood as nearly anything that helps with an advancement. The history of

technology can go all the way back 2.5 million years ago with the discovery of how to give a

stone a cutting edge for survival. The stone tool was one that encouraged and needed physical

activity to use. The human discovery that round nodules of flint can be split and chipped to form

a sharp edge is extremely ancient. Stone tools make it possible to carve materials such as antler

or bone to create even sharper points, allowing for an advancement to occur. This was the birth

of technology; technology continues to advance our everyday life daily. (History of Technology).

Technology has come to evolve from things such as stone tools, fire, bricks, weaving being our

only use of technology to having everything now become available in a click of a button in the

palm of your hand.

The damaging effects on physical activity when people spend hours and hours a day on

technology is beginning to be studied and examined. Forgetting about physical activity can

oftentimes be crucial to our health and lead to obesity. Worldwide prevalence of childhood

obesity has increased greatly during the past three decades. (Han 1741) These past three years

have been the major developing period for technology, and this is where our children become

less active due to being consumed by technology. Calorie intake and activity recommendations
 6

need reassessment and improved quantification at a population level because of sedentary

lifestyles of children nowadays. (Han 1737) Children in todays society are prone to sedentary

lifestyle because technology is consuming their life and has become such an advanced and

important part of everyday living. This currently is and will remain to be a serious problem

because of the serious life threatening health risks that people are unware of. Excess

bodyweight is the sixth most important risk factor contributing to the overall burden of disease

worldwide. 1.1 billion adults and 10% of children are now classified as overweight or obese.

Average life expectancy is already diminished; the main adverse consequences are

cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and several cancers. (Haslam 1197)

Technology and social media have most definitely contributed to a changing lifestyle

much different than one that older generations experienced. Social media has impacted children

and adolescents in many ways physically, emotionally, and socially. Although the case can be

made that technology can have a positive influence on todays youth, many different evidence

findings suggests there are also a tremendous amount of negative impacts. Technology and

social media should be introduced to our youth in a cautious and manner with appropriate safety

measures taken to assure they are getting healthy dosages of technology.

Works Cited
 7

"11 Facts About Cyber Bullying." 11 Facts About Cyber Bullying. Web. 09 May 2016.

Farber, Barry A., Gavin Shafron, Jaleh Hamadani, Emily Wald, and George Nitzburg.

"Children, Technology, Problems, and Preferences." Journal of

Clinical Psychology 68.11 (2012): 1225-229. Web.

Flegal, K. M. "Excess deaths associated with obesity: cause and effect." International

Journal of Obesity Aug. 2006: 1171+. Academic Search Premier. Web.

7 May 2016.

Gordon-Messer, Deborah, Jose Arturo Bauermeister, Alison Grodzinski, and Marc

Zimmerman. "Sexting among Young Adults." The Journal of

Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent

Medicine 52.3 (2013): 301-6. Web.

Guzel, Hatice. "The Effect of Internet Usage on Technology Comprehension of Physics

Students: A Case Study." Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and

Teaching 12.2 (2011): Pacific Forum on Science Learning and

Teaching, 2011, Vol.12(2). Web.

Han, Joan C., and Debbie A. Lawlor. "Childhood Obesity." 375.9727 (2010): 1737-748.

Web. 7 May 2016.

Haslam, and James. "Obesity." The Lancet 366.9492 (2005): 1197-209. Web.

Hoff, D. L., & Mitchell, S. N. (2009). Cyberbullying: Causes, effects, and remedies.

Journal of Educational Administration, 47(5), 652-665.

McFarlane, Donovan A. "Social communication in a technology-driven society: A

philosophical exploration of factor-impacts and consequences."

American Communication Journal 12.1 (2010): 1-14.

 8

Taylor, Jim. "Is Technology Creating a Family Divide?" Psychology Today. 13 Mar.

2013. Web. 10 May 2016.